This season, the Humana Festival runs Feb. 27-April 17, offering audiences, critics and industry folk a first look at dawning American plays, in full productions. In the past 35 years, the Humana Festival has introduced more than 400 plays into the American theatre repertoire. Humana, now presented in three venues within the ATL complex, is where such works as The Gin Game, Crimes of the Heart, Dinner With Friends, Becky Shaw, Tape, Keely and Du and omnium gatherum launched.
Here are the plays of the 2011 Humana Festival:
A Devil at Noon
By Anne Washburn
Directed by Steve Cosson
Featuring Rebecca Hart
Feb. 27-April 3
Bingham Theatre
"Chet writes science fiction. His book is going well, but his magnets no longer adhere to the refrigerator, there’s that ant problem, and the young woman who popped up on his doorstep won't tell him her last name. Washburn's tantalizingly trippy play explores the addiction, power, and danger of dwelling in the imagination."
Maple and Vine
By Jordan Harrison
Directed by Anne Kauffman
March 4-April 3
Bingham Theatre
"Katha and Ryu have become allergic to their 21st-century lives. After they meet a charismatic man from a community of 1950s reenactors, they forsake cell phones and sushi for cigarettes and Tupperware parties. In this compulsively authentic world, Katha and Ryu are surprised by what their new neighbors—and they themselves—are willing to sacrifice for happiness."
Elemeno Pea
By Molly Smith Metzler
Directed by Davis McCallum
March 8-April 3
Pamela Brown Auditorium
"When Devon visits Simone for an end-of-summer sibs fest on Martha's Vineyard, she finds her little sister changed beyond recognition. As personal assistant to wealthy and demanding trophy wife Michaela Kell, Simone enjoys a lavish beachfront lifestyle that these girls never could have imagined growing up in blue-collar Buffalo—but is all this luxury really free of cost? Worlds collide and sisters square off in this keenly observed comedy about ambition, regret, and the choices that shape who we become." Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them
By A. Rey Pamatmat
Directed by May Adrales
March 11-April 2
Bingham Theatre
"Sixteen-year-old Kenny and his little sister Edith are all but abandoned on a remote farm in Middle America. But when Kenny's friend Benji starts encroaching on their makeshift family—and Edith shoots something she really shouldn't shoot—the outside world comes barging in. Edith takes aim at growing up, staying young, falling in love, and facing the consequences…then fires away."
The End
By Dan Dietz, Jennifer Haley, Allison Moore, A. Rey Pamatmat and Marco Ramirez
Directed by Michael Legg and Amy Attaway
Performed by the 2010/11 Acting Apprentice Company
March 18-April 3
Bingham Theatre
"The end is near! Or at least, it always seems like it's near. From forewarning to four horsemen, five wildly imaginative playwrights join forces with our 22 acting apprentices to explore the enduring promise of apocalypse—and what lies on the other side."
The Edge of Our Bodies
Written and directed by Adam Rapp
Featuring Catherine Combs as Bernadette
March 22-April 3
Victor Jory Theatre
"Bernadette is 16, on the train from her New England private school to New York City to give her boyfriend some big news. Achingly articulate about all she can't know or control, this play captures a young woman at the threshold of vulnerability and experience."
BOB
By Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
Directed by Sean Daniels
Featuring Lou Sumrall and Danny Scheie
March 24-April 17
Pamela Brown Auditorium
"Bob was born and abandoned in a White Castle bathroom in Louisville, Kentucky. The ensuing rags-to-riches-to-fame-to-fall-to-legacy-to-the-love-of-living-life tale follows Bob on an epic journey in just five acts. Nachtrieb, author of boom, the most-produced play in America last season, returns to Actors Theatre with a hilarious and poignant story of one man's dream. A dream of greatness. The greatness of Bob."
Productions are presented in repertory on three stages. The festival is made possible by funding from the Humana Foundation. For more information, visit actorstheatre.org.
